FQ is 8th largest host...

[squillo]

...if it were in Japan (at least by number of associated domain names). I came across this interesting statistic at WebHosting.Info (http://www.webhosting.info/).

It's funny how folks think FQ is a tad expensive... You should come here! Hosting fees of bonafide japanese providers for shared services comparable to FQ's are usually 3 to 4 times more. Basic services like email and hosting are often charged for separately. That extra megabyte of bandwidth which costs you half a cent at FQ, will cost you 14 cents in jp. It's nuts.

I'm now starting a project for an organization whose main sponsor runs a large isp-type of company in Japan, so there's no question I must use their servers. Their standard plan disallows any type of direct access to the actual directory (telnet, ftp or otherwise - a safe transfer directory is provided instead), disallows any kind of custom scripting or setting of file permissions, does not include email (let alone a mailing list) unless ordered separately, etc., etc. All this, for nearly 50 bucks a month. %)

best!
squillo

[Andilinks]

Japan looks like a huge ripe plum ready for picking. What's the catch?

Wait, I think I know, Japanese trade is mired in layers of red tape. Even so, I'd look into it if I were in the hosting biz.

Andi

[squillo]

heh-heh, I've certainly pondered that a bit... :QTmoney:

... but the hosting biz is just as much (if not more) about dealing with customers and marketing as it is a technical enterprise (and I'm not so good at either (~ ). I think quite a few japanese companies with english chops use american hosts and registrars anyway. But it's great to offer clients here hosting for much cheaper than they might expect (although I'm beginning to think this may be a confusing liability).

Certainly there's red tape, but entrepreneurship is a difficult enterprise even for japanese natives!

best-
squillo

<edit> spelling </edit>

[hobbes]

futurequest.co.jp?

[Randall]

Well, you know how it is in a country without a lot of natural resources. All that data has to be imported...

Randall

[PaulKroll]

Bruce Tognazzini has a blog about his trip to Japan, Japan on $1000 a day (http://asktog.com/travel/Japan/japan01.html), which starts with them realizing the hotel's room service for spaghetti is $38. Sauce $4 extra. It gets more expensive from there.

He also describes Kobe beef, which was (for two people) $392 there, but you can get it for $80 a meal in the states at the right place (My Dinner at Morimoto's (http://www.paulkroll.com/morimotos.html) included a thin slice of Kobe beef to taste). He calls it the best in the world, but there is Mishima beef, of which about 50 head a year are available, and I don't actually know what the price tag is... but I'm betting it's insane in Japan, and rarely available outside. (Some rich crazy people probably order up a head or two a year for their own, but no restaurant is going to STOCK it...)

Basically, Japan's expensive, if you didn't get that yet. :)

[squillo]

Originally posted by hobbes:
futurequest.co.jp? That domain will cost ya! First you have to obtain a Japanese business license, and then after having successfully applied for the domain you have the privilege of paying $400 for a 2-year registration. Dotster it is not. Full details here (http://www.japanregistry.com/registrationinfo.php). But actually (and this is typical), there's a much cheaper way -- anyone can simply purchase a .com domain which is the most common type anyway.

I found Tog's blog hysterically funny and remarkably prescient, thanks Paul, but the deflation over the last decade has really helped to bring prices down and curb many of the excesses. We find living here (in the Yokohama burbs, an hour outside of Tokyo) cheaper than Manhattan, although I realize that may not be saying much. :) As a fairly extreme example, the yearly membership fee of the nearby Totsuka golf course (here's a graph (http://www.nisseigolf.com/kaiinken/kanag/totsu.html)) has dropped to only around $200,000 per year from its high of 1.5mil in 1989. ;) ;) Naturally, only Japanese citizens can apply for membership (wonder if that rule exists at Augusta...) so it may be a while before I have a chance to hit the little white balls.

best!
squillo

[Randall]

Well, thanks to Paul, I am now thoroughly grossed out. And no, it's not the picture of him at Morimoto's.

It's Day 6 (http://asktog.com/travel/Japan/japan06.html) of Tog's blog.

:eeww: :eeww: :eeww: (for lack of a barf-bag smiley)

Randall

# Must be revenge for the import joke

[PaulKroll]

only around $200,000 per year
Sign me up for two!

Tog's description of eating an octopus like you're in some performance-art version of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" is a LITTLE disquieting, I'll admit. I'd not be able to eat many, many of the things he's described, and no amount of taste in a tasty fish will convince me that fugu is worth trying. I draw the line at neurotoxins. :)

[TVB]

I draw the line at neurotoxins.

Ahhh, Paul...where is the sense of adventure? :P

Have you seen the No Cow Left Behind campaign? http://nochildleft.com/cartoon20.html or for the more academic version: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040115074059.htm

Having read some descriptions about the effect of mad cow disease on humans, I think we need to reconsider our dietary demands to consider the pleasure and sense of adventure one gains before the food item consumed kills the consumer.

Reading that blog reminded me of an incident where I was working as a subcontractor on site with NHK doing a high-definition satellite broadcast from the Democratic National Convention in El Lay in 2000. (For the techies--we were putting up a 36 mhz digital signal in HDTV on C-Band out of a truck sitting on blacktop in 90 degree heat, and doing an encryption turn-around to a PACSAT bird over the Pacific through a teleport in CA...it was a really fat signal and the heat generated in the truck made it necessary to employ two big a** auxiliary AC units pumping really cold air into the box to keep both equipment and people cool)

Anyways, my boss (the one making the big commission on the job--the company I did the work for billed it at about $50K, less the 30K or so in expenses for the truck, AC, and union fees for phone and cable hookups) suggested I take those in charge out for dinner after the project. He suggested someplace for lobster as live Maine lobster is a rarity in Japan. Being a good worker, I found a great restaurant and next thing I knew, they had invited about 8 of their coworkers for a table of 10. These guys ended up ordering like 3 lobsters apiece "because it was so cheap" to what they are used to.

Explaining the $2000+tip to accounting for reimbursement was quite the adventure. :waa:

It all makes sense now.:QTdive:

Betsy